Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Super snack balls

There were a few possible titles for this post, and the snack balls that form its focus.

Oat, carrot, zucchini, almond and sultana balls won out in ingredient list accuracy, but didn't sound very appealing.

Vanilla oat balls won out in taste accuracy, but seemed a bit misleading given the longer ingredient list.

Oat cookie balls didn't sound quite right.

Balls with a twist sounded quite wrong.

Super snack balls it was.

In truth, these are super snack balls. They are incredibly easy to make. They include both carrot and zucchini. The sweetener is limited to sultanas. They are not particularly portable, going soft if left out of the fridge for too long, but as an easy snack (or even an easy breakfast) - they work very well indeed.

I'm not sure what prompted me to put zucchini in the ingredient list, other than the success of the carrot, nut and date balls I made back in August. I have found that zucchini works well in just about every baked product that carrot works in, and it seems that part of me wanted to see if the same was true of no-bake products.

It is.

These reminded me slightly of carrot cake, but only very slightly. The taste was really of vanilla but with a texture and depth that went far beyond that. There was no zucchini taste, and other than the small occasional flecks of green, you wouldn't know it was in there.

In all, I am really quite enamored with these. I can also see zucchini having another resurgence in my kitchen. It really is a very versatile vegetable!

Grate the zucchini and carrot and then set aside (I did this using the grater attachment on my food processor).

Combine the oats, almonds, sultanas and vanilla in a food processor and process until well mixed and the ingredients are starting to clump together. Add the zucchini and carrot and process briefly, until combined.

(If you don't add the zucchini and carrot at the end, they are likely to end up over-processed and the mixture will be too moist.)

Roll into balls and refrigerate for 2 - 4 hours before serving. Store in the refrigerator.

I love zucchini in sweet food but don't eat it that much - I don't think I have had it raw in this way but I imagine its bland taste would be unchallenging. Would these balls be less soft if you squeezed the liquid out of the carrot and zucchini?

That is a great suggestion, thank you - yes, absolutely. They were fine in texture from the fridge but it would be nice to have them a little more portable, especially with summer temperatues increasing. Next time I wil try squeezing the liquid first!

These look amazing, Kari. I wouldn't have thought it possible to add zucchini to a raw recipe but it looks like your recipe has worked out really well. I can imagine these being a great snack for during the day xx

I love this recipe! I always love when I can sneak veggies into my treats, and this sounds like a total winner. : ) I am very pro zuccs in sweet treats! My mom and I used to make zucchini bread muffins when I was young, so it's kind of a nostalgic thing for me. : )

What lovely memories to have with your mother. For me the equivalent is probably banana bread (we seemd to always have bananas needing to be used up in my childhood!) but now I'm an adult I think I like zucchini baked goods more ;)

I haven't used zucchini in a sweet dish but I can imagine it would be great. We eat it ALL the time. It is delicious and such a great thing to add to nearly any dish. In fact we eat so many that this year we decided to give growing them a go. I will no doubt report on the progress but so far we have 5 leaves and an indication that flowers are coming.

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